Juice Fast

Good questions!


The Juice Diet involvesjuice fasting, or consuming nothing but pure fruit and vegetable juice, for several days or more. According to Christine Bailey, author of "The Juice Diet," the diet reduces bodily toxins while promoting energy, weight loss, immune system strength and physical beauty. While pure juices provide nutritional benefits, fasting on juice alone poses numerous risks. For best results, seek guidance from a health care professional before attempting weight loss.

EXHAUSTION, WEAKNESS AND DEHYDRATION Without sufficient calories and nutrients, the Juice Diet can cause low blood sugar levels,tirednessand physical weakness. Since we also reap fluidsfrom foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, soups and milk, you may experience dehydration. Other variations of juice-only diets, such as the Celebrity Juice Diet, encourages use of herbal supplements. These ingredients and particular juices,suchaslemon juice, can have diuretic, or fluid-flushing, effects on your body and can also make way for dehydration. Symptoms of dehydration may include tiredness, dry mouth, reduced urine output, thirst, headache, dizziness and mental confusion. People who do feel energized while juice fasting may be reaping a placebo affect, according to Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky. The Juice Diet encourages exercise, which can cause or worsen exhaustion, weakness and dehydration. REDUCED METABOLISM Your metabolism, or the rate at which your body converts food into energy, changes depending upon how much food you eat, how often you eat and how much physical activity you partake in. Restrictive dieting forces your body into "starvation mode," according to the National Eating Disorders Association. In an attempt to compensate for the little amount of energy and nutrients you consume, your metabolism slows down. While a few days of low-calorie intake may not cause permanent damage, frequent or occasional "cleansing," which Bailey recommends, can have a longer-lasting impact. The more your metabolism slows, the greater your chance of weight gain while eating fewer calories.

EMOTIONAL EFFECTS The Juice Diet can also dampen your emotional health. If your blood sugar drops, you may experience low moods similar to depression. You may also feel deprived of solid foods and normal amounts of calories and feel uncomfortable around meal times, particularly if friends or family members are enjoying normal food. Restrictive diets, such as the Juice Diet, can also lead to chronic dieting, according to NEDA, which is associated with heightened stress, anxiety and clinical depression. If you stop the diet or "cheat" by eating solid foods, you may feel guilt or shame. These emotions are problematic, as they can trigger a cycle of on-again, off-again dieting. If you have history of a psychiatric illness, such as anorexia, bulimia, depression or anxiety disorder, the Juice Diet may trigger or exacerbate your symptoms. REFERENCES "The Juice Diet"; Christine Bailey; 2011

MayoClinic.com: Detox Diets: Do They Work?

National Eating Disorders Association: Know Dieting: Risks and Reasons to Stop

Hope this helps!

I've done a 30 day juice fast. There are pros and cons.

Pros:
1. totally resets your taste for food and teaches you to recognize genuine hunger vs. boredom hunger, thirst, etc.
2. provides a lot of good micronutrients
3. the weight did not come back (obviously because I didn't eat enough to gain weight after coming off the fast)

Cons:
1. if undergoing a fast for more than a few days, you WILL lose muscle weight in addition to fat, which is my single biggest regret about fasting for so long
2. lack of much variation gets old fast

In short, I think there are actually better ways to lose weight with fasting than a juice fast that will do better at preserving lean body mass and provide better and more diverse nutrition. I currently do Eat Stop Eat style 24 hour fasts, twice per week. There is a tremendous amount of scientific evidence in the area of intermittent fasting, showing it to be very valuable and health-promoting far beyond just weight loss.

I recently did a 3-day juice detox using Fresh Evolution juices. This is a company that Starbucks bought, and it has limited availability. It is in some grocery stores, but to get the "juice kits", you need to go to a Fresh Evo store. Right now the only ones are in Seattle and Bellevue, WA, but I'm sure they will be nationwide soon . The first day was the worst - I must have been full of toxins cuz I ached and actually had to go home from work cuz of "digestive problems", but I stuck with it. Days 2 and 3 were great - the juices are cold pressed and fresh and have NO additives - just veggies, fruit, and some spices in some. I felt mentally alert, very peaceful, not hungry, and wanting to continue it for a few more days - but I only bought the juice for 3 days. Anyway, I didn't do it for weight loss, but to clean my internal body, prove to myself I could do something like this, and rid myself of cravings (sugar!!) - all of which it did. I plan to do this 1x monthly.

My mother bought me the Isagenix 9-day cleanse after having a lot of success with it. It involves 2 days of shake replacements with 1 meal, 2 days of a pure juice-fast, 5 days of the shake/1meal days, and then 2 more liquid cleanses.

I got through the first two days just fine. The first cleanse day was difficult, but I made it with only having a banana to boost my blood sugar. The second day was so bad that I ended up having a sandwich by 5pm, and the day after it, I completely dropped the program because I was forced to leave work early after almost passing out at my desk. I only continued to use the shake as a breakfast replacement.

For me, I got shaky and irritable, and I didn't want to be around anyone. I went from 188lbs to 183lbs in the 4 days that I stuck with the program, but immediately went back up to 186 when I started to eat again.

I will never try a liquid-only fast ever again. It just wasn't worth it.